Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

Chapter 145 Memories

Rito's gaze was fixed on the man standing under the cherry blossom tree.

A black suit, a gentle smile, and eyes that overlapped with a scene from a memory.

His heart skipped a beat.

"Who's that?" Tong's voice sounded behind him, tinged with wariness.

Rito opened his mouth, wanting to say the words "don't know," but the words got stuck in his throat and he couldn't say them.

Because his body was telling him that he knew this person.

It wasn't the "reasoner" who knew it, but rather the original owner of this body.

The man's face was like a photograph polished by time, with clear outlines but a hazy glow.

He smiled and waved to Li Ren, as if they had known each other for a very long time.

"Rito, you've arrived."

The voice came, gentle and deep, like a breeze on a spring afternoon.

Rin took a step forward uncontrollably.

"Wait!" "That's an illusion, part of the memory labyrinth." Hitomi reached out and grabbed his wrist, her voice carrying a warning. "I know," Rito replied, but his gaze remained fixed on the man.

"But I need to confirm one thing."

He broke free from Tong's hand and walked step by step toward the man.

Every step felt like stepping on fragments of memory.

The surrounding scenery began to change.

The outline of the campus became blurred, replaced by a narrow street lined with old Japanese-style houses, with wind chimes hanging under the eaves swaying gently in the breeze.

"You've grown up, Rito," the man said, his voice tinged with a touch of emotion.

Rito stopped and looked directly into the man's eyes.

"Who are you?"

"You already have the answer in your heart, don't you?" The man smiled gently.

A memory suddenly flooded into Rito's mind.

On a rainy night, a boy knelt before a tombstone, rainwater mingling with tears streaming down his face.

The tombstone bears the name: Keisuke Sato.

That boy was the original owner of this body.

The person on the tombstone is the man in front of us.

"Brother—" Rito blurted out.

The moment he uttered those two words, he felt a sharp headache.

Countless images flooded his mind like a burst dam.

Keisuke Sato taught him to write, carried him on his back through the night, and rushed to fight the group of people who were bullying him. Under the moonlight, Keisuke Sato said to him, "Rito, remember, no matter what happens, your brother will protect you."

Those memories are vivid and real, carrying an emotion that rational people have never experienced before.

But that wasn't his memory.

In his life before he transmigrated, he had no older brother.

He was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage and never experienced the warmth of family affection.

But these memories are so clear, so intense, as if they were his own past.

"What's going on?" Rito asked in a low voice, his voice trembling slightly.

"This isn't right—these should be the original owner's memories—I should be a transmigrator—"

"Yes and no." Sato Keisuke's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Rito looked up and saw that Keisuke Sato had already walked up to him, only a few steps away.

Upon closer inspection, one can see a faint scar at the corner of his right eye and a small mole at the end of his left eyebrow.

These details are so realistic that they seem impossible for an illusion to replicate.

"You've always thought of yourself as an outsider who transmigrated into this body."

"But have you ever considered that perhaps you were originally the owner of this body?" Keisuke Sato said slowly.

Li Ren's pupils suddenly contracted.

"What do you mean?"

"What you mean is, what you call time travel, might just be an awakening sealed deep within your memory." Sato Keisuke's voice became heavy.

"You don't remember because your memory has been tampered with."

"You are Sato Rito of this world. All your memories, including that so-called past life, are artificial illusions implanted in your body."

"Impossible!" Rito suddenly took a step back, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"I remember my past life, my childhood, and my experiences in another world very clearly! Those things can't be fake!"

""

"What if those memories were just a disguise designed to cover up the real you?" Sato Keisuke's eyes turned sad.

"Rito, have you never wondered why you happened to transmigrate into the body of Sato Rito?"

"Why is your magic so perfectly suited to the sorcery system of this world?"

"Why is the power lurking within you far beyond what an ordinary transmigrator should possess?"

Each question is like a knife, precisely piercing the doubts in a rational person's heart.

He did have those questions.

After discovering that he had traveled through time, he always attributed these questions to "time travel perks" or "plot requirements".

But now, when these questions are brought to the forefront, he realizes that he has never truly delved into them.

"I know this is hard to accept, but you have to face reality." Keisuke Sato took a step forward and reached out his hand, as if to touch Rito's shoulder.

"You are Sato Rito of this world, you are my younger brother, you have never been a transmigrator."

"Those so-called past life memories are merely a disguise sealed in your brain, intended to conceal your true identity."

"What are you trying to cover up?" Rito's voice was hoarse.

"To cover up the fragments of the Seed of Time sealed within you." A trace of sorrow flashed in Keisuke Sato's eyes.

"A thousand years ago, your body was chosen as one of the vessels for the Seed of Time."

"To prevent you from being consumed by that power, the sorcerers sealed your memories and implanted another ordinary memory, making you believe that you are an ordinary person who has traveled from another world."

"In this way, the power of the Seed of Time will not awaken within you."

"But now, the seal has begun to loosen."

Li Ren felt that his mind was in complete chaos.

On one hand, his memories as a "time traveler" are clear and complete, with every detail vividly remembered.

But at the same time, Keisuke Sato's words were like a key, opening a door that he had never been aware of.

Behind the door, another memory begins to surface.

A child grows up in an old building.

A group of people dressed in white robes surrounded him, their expressions obscured.

A golden light emanated from his chest, and the faces of the white-robed men showed expressions of terror.

Then came endless darkness, like being locked in a room without light.

It has been asleep for a very, very long time.

Until one day, a ray of light tore through the darkness.

That was the day he "traveled through time".

Rihito's body began to tremble.

He couldn't tell the difference.

He really couldn't tell the difference.

The memories of being a "transmigrator" and the memories of the newly emerging "original owner" began to intertwine and collide in his mind, like two torrents vying for the same territory.

What exactly is his past?

Is he really a time traveler?

Or was he originally from this world, but had false memories implanted in him?

"Reasonable people..."

'

Suddenly, a faint voice echoed in his mind.